Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt -- arm made

Summer is a difficult time. I am obsessed with the season.

Every weekend I want to go to the beach, to the park -- the one with the sprinklers, to a carnival, to the beach again.

My family thinks I have too much energy for un-worthy things, that two beach visits with a bawling toddler who hates car seats should have been enough to put my desires in order, that the nearby park is fun enough for the kids and that watching football is as much an outdoor activity as running around kids in a strawberry field.

I clearly think otherwise. But it is not easy to put my thoughts to reality. Weekends are times for birthday parties, get-togethers, groceries and chores. Weekdays are time for work, piano(not mine), swimming(not mine), next days lunch. Work is crazy and I don't even get time to visit my blog friends.How do I fit in summer outdoor stuff in this busy schedule ?

In the recent years I have learned to delegate. I have outsourced my house cleaning, occasional help to dust and vaccum. It is hard to get help here in the US but look around and you will find affordable cleaning, someone who might be of service. There might be an Auntie few blocks down who will make you Rotis for the week, a kindly neighbor who will sell home made idli batter, a young Spanish girl who will chop your vegetables for those extra bucks. Once in a while take their help, you not only need it, a busy Mom like you deserves it.

Last month I took a day off. I wanted to take the kids strawberry picking. Since weekends just weren't working, it had to be a weekday. I felt it was really important for the kiddos to know where their favorite fruit was coming from, to know that strawberries are not produced at the neighborhood grocers.

The farm is thankfully not that far and we spent a nice hour or so grazing the strawberry fields. Rows of deep green against the blue sky and the little red fruits hidden in all that green.Being close to Nature is so enchanting that I wouldn't have cared if we were picking bitter gourd and not strawberries.

The kids had loads of fun, they ate some, picked some and I just let them be, at least for this once.

Since they hadn't picked the choicest of fruits, after eating some, I froze the rest. And then one fine day, I wanted to make a strawberry ice cream. Ok not ice cream, but at least a frozen yogurt.

Of course I don't have an ice cream machine. I don't have a whole lot of things. Actually the list of things I DO NOT have is way longer than the things I DO have.

But I won't fret on that, because if your upper arms are as sagzy as mine and you want to do this, you better make ice cream by hand. You will like the process so much that you will do it maybe once and buy Hagen Dasz by the pints. Ok, it is not all that hard, I kid.

Sandeepa, that is one lovely looking yogurt and I totally agree with you that we deserve that kind of time off. I don't have that much help, but I do get cleaning done once every other week (outsourcing as you called it). I am too planning to go to strawberry farm, must be fun !!!

In the summer I can never go to all the blods i like to visit because it is holiday and then the routine is out and gone too. But your shedule sounds so hectic.I would love to have your auntie and your neighbour :-)I hav eto admit i am still not converted to youghurt ice cream. You know me i am for the things which goes stright to my hipps :-)

Hey Sandeepa.. That looks so good! I have strawberries sitting in my fridge too. By hand-blended do you mean you used a machine hand-blender to blend the ingredients? (I don't have one, so I avoid making all ice-creams). Just wondering if I can make this with just a whisk or spoon and modest arm power.

You took a day off work to go strawberry picking? - wow - Kudos to you!. Its not that I am a workaholic or a career ladder climber, just that I am incredibly committed to anything I sign up to. So, if I can wring myself to nothingness trying to do everything possible for my family on the weekends,on weekdays I do the same at work. So I have to stop. and remind myself. at times. that its ok to take off from work. for things other than major illnesses!

This month for K's bday (which fell on a Monday), though we had a bday party on Sunday evening, I took off work and spent the day with her. We went and got mehendi done on her hands and then had a lovely lunch at her fav restaurant...we played board games and read books and napped.

I am sure thats why you run yourself ragged trying to do things with them on the summer weekends - they will love the memories much later :)

Honestly, I do not do any earth shattering work that would change human lives :-) If I take a day off for something other than illness it is perfectly ok, of course it cannot be around project deadline time.

We get a fair amount of vacation days where I work and can take it as needed. During the summer, instead of taking a bunch of days together, I tend to take a day off every now and then, to spend more time with the kids. I LOVE that :-D

Most of my colleagues will take a 3-4 week vacation in summer, I save ;-)

I don't have that kind of job either AND we have no one even keeping track of our vacation days as long as we make sure that we all don't take it at the same time.....so it's just up to me to let go and take off once in a while. I have also started taking days off and on instead of waiting for the "long" vacations.

On your comment on my blog... Bread making is much easier than it looks - I used to think of it as a chore too... till the first time I made it. Do you knead chapati or puri dough? if you do, then it's about the same - I usually knead it for 8-10 minutes, no more. I guess in the West, the kneading gets written up a lot because it is not part of their everyday cooking, whereas for Indians who make rotis on a daily basis, its par for the course.

I soooooo agree on delegating! Strawberry picking is so much fun, here too, it is the perfect season to do so!!P.s. Is it me or did you recently change the pics on your logo? It is really looking very nice!!

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine